Where’d everyone go?

Last night I got a terrible night’s sleep. Trying to get to bed early proved to be a futile effort as people celebrated the nice weather out on their balconies into all hours of the night. One girl laughed like a hyena after every sentence someone spoke. Sometimes I think she even laughed at her silly laugh. And when all that finally calmed down, one of my roommates had a great snore.

Now I’d be hypocritical if I said I never had a good one myself. But I’d like to think that mine periled in comparison to this one. This guy had no less than four different styles covered, each of them as loud and annoying as the one before. At one point I thought he might choke to death.

Around 5:45 I called it quits, gathered my things and checked out by 6:00.

The first two legs of the metro went smoothly and I thought I’d have plenty of time. But the third train took a solid 15 minutes and then, due to some sort of problem, it ended several stops short of the port. A whole bunch of people with large backpacks and suitcases now had to scramble out of the station and get to the bus that no one knew where to find.

At 6:30 in the morning, before the sun even rose, a long parade of confused tourists marched down a street, following one another aimlessly. Follow the crowd. We eventually found the stop. Now there was an entire metro full of people waiting for the bus. Waiting. And waiting. And waiting.

The smart ones grabbed the cabs that were in the area. I joined that group a few minutes in. At least I tried to. There aren’t enough cabs to support the hundreds of people trying to get to the port.

I finally found one and left just as the bus arrived. It must have taken five buses to get all those people to the port. I wonder how many were stranded.

My driver and I wound through the city for several miles until we finally made it to the port at about 7:15. He dropped me right by my ship. I wonder where the bus would have dropped me. And when?

I bought my ticket and grabbed a small pastry and a bottle of water. I made my ship with about two minutes to spare.

The shipping company is called Blue Star Ferries. I had a good chuckle at this. Anyone who has ever seen the movie Wall Street will remember Blue Star Airlines. Maybe I should buy the stock.

The ferry ride took about seven hours. I got to see the sun rise as we left Athens. Along the way we made stops in Parthos and Naxos. People got off and on. It was then I realized that this ship is also taking people back to Athens. But they have to go the wrong way first. As will I on Friday. And that’s why I only get back at 11:15 at night.

I was able to take a brief nap which felt great after minimal sleep last night. It also made the long ride seem much quicker.

I arrived in Ios around 2:15. I easily found the bus stop nearby and waited until 3:00 to catch it up the hill and into Chora, the main town on the island.

When I was dropped off, I was looking for my hotel, which was supposed to be right by the stop. I talked to a guy fixing the roof on a store and he said walk up the hill. So I did. I eventually found the place but no one was there. No one was anywhere!

On my way back down I found a hardware store with a woman working the desk who might have been an American ex-pat. At least she sounded like one. She called the number for the hotel (a cell phone, actually) and got a hold of someone. George, the hotel’s owner, was apparently in Athens. But his mom was there to help me out.

I was told to go down to the main road, turn right, walk for a minute and look for the 150 kg (300+ pound) woman waiting for me. Lo and behold there was such a massive woman waving at me from her terrace at a different entrance to the hotel. She pointed me towards my room. I made it.

After checking in and getting settled, I decided to walk around and see if this really is a ghost town. I walked through the narrow corridors in the main part of town and only came across a handful of locals.

I made my way down to the port to see if there was any more action down there. Very little. But it was dinner time and there at least appeared to be a couple restaurants that were open, based on their newly chalk printed menus by their entrances.

I found one and sat down. As I was the only customer in the place (and probably within a mile), I was immediately helped by a woman that had a speck of an Australian accent in her speech. I dined on olives, whole grilled shrimp with a side of cole slaw and some white wine. The shrimp were a bit dry but beggars can’t be choosers.

While I was dining outside, the sun set in the background. This was lovely. But it also led to a challenge as I’d have to navigate my way back to the hotel mostly in the dark. A very black dark as there wasn’t much of a reason to have lights on since no one’s here. But I made it back just fine.

After writing my journal/blog and sorting some of my pictures, there wasn’t much more to do than go to sleep. I find myself lacking enough reading material. I hope I don’t lose my mind here over the next two days.

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Part of trip: Europe Backpacking

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